Any mountainous, populated region on earth has many transmission towers. The valleys would not receive TV or Radio signals clearly without them.

i come from Norway where we hawe mountains valleys and deep fjords everywhere and we dont hawe nearly as many transmission masts grouped up anywhere like it is around Makkah. We hawe alot of them also yes but mostly just one close to each city.

so it must be the valleys in combination with the huge amount of brocasting and huge amount of people that cause it to be so many grouped up in Makkah

__________________
We set our visions higher
Its never to tall just way to small

The Mosque next to the building is and will always be the central focal point for Muslims - i can understand why people of other faiths will see the building as the centre peace, however I think the building will bring some benefits like

*Tall buildings will naturally attract wind flow around the building - so it could encourage fresh winds and lower the temperature for pilgrims
*Also provide valuable shade for pilgrims
*A Beacon for anyone travelling to Mecca knowing which direction the Qibla is - by using the building as a reference point
*Aesthetical landmark - bringing the surrounding areas up to modern standards
*Make life easier for pilgrims by not having too far to travel - although i suspect it will be well off pilgrims

I am sure that when other buildings around the Harram area are demolished and bought up[ to modern standards - the city will be state of the art for pilgrims and residents

Mecca looks amazing now – it will look more amazing in the next 10-15 years!
I hope they increase the height to over 610 meters as the building will be in the 2000ft club where only a few buildings currently built and under construction are in that club

The reason for the great count of radio towers near Mecca may be that each company often built its own tower or even for each program its own tower. In most parts of Europe it is common that one tower must be used for all programmes.
However, there are sites with multiple masts. Most of them are or were used also for shortwave, mediumwave and longwave transmission. Towers and masts for this kind of transmission are often the antenna itsself and have high voltage against ground when transmission takes place.
Installing antennas for other radio services on this objects is possible, but requires a special device in form of resonant circuits, in whose coils a cable runs, to bring the signals from ground to high voltage potential.
Such device is expensive and maintenance on the mast requires either switching off the LW, MW or SW-transmitter or access via an insulated platform.
So it is often prefered in such cases to build two towers: one for longer waves and one for UHF and VHF.
Directional antennas for longwave and mediumwave require nearly always two or more masts. For shortwave dipoles spun between two or more towers are used.

Hoever all of the towers on the hills around Mecca seem to be used exclusively for UHF-/VHF-transmission. Abraj Al-Bait can perform the job of several of them perhaps.

it might be that it is easier to finish the top while still keeping that side open as it is Instead of finsihing it. In that way they can use it for storage and stuff while fisnihing the spire and also take metal and other thing that they need for the spire and clock in through the openings.

__________________
We set our visions higher
Its never to tall just way to small

__________________The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith

it might be that it is easier to finish the top while still keeping that side open as it is Instead of finsihing it. In that way they can use it for storage and stuff while fisnihing the spire and also take metal and other thing that they need for the spire and clock in through the openings.

I think some day in the future the whole of Mecca mosque will be surrounded by giant buildings like this, in varying styles, to accommodate the millions more pilgrims projected as air travel gets cheaper and easier round the world.

As it is now though, on it's own, it's very, very impressive, one of the new wonders of the world imo, and by far the world's largest building, multiple times over:

The Abraj Al-Bait Towers also known as the "Makkah Royal Clock Hotel Tower" is a complex under construction in Makkah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The building holds and will prevail several world records in the construction world, preferably: the tallest hotel in the world, constructed with the tallest clock tower in the world and displaying the world's largest clock faces,[1] the world's largest building floor area, and will become the second tallest building in the world upon completion in 2011 (Dubai's Burj Khalifa being the holder). The building complex is meters away from the world's largest mosque and Islam's most sacred site, the Masjid al Haram.

Upon completion, the tallest tower in the complex would stand as the tallest building in Saudi Arabia, and the tallest and largest hotel in the world, with a planned height of 610 metres (2,000 feet). It is recently the second tallest building under construction. Upon completion, the structure would have the largest floor area of any structure in the world with 1,500,000 m2 (16,150,000 sq ft) of floorspace.

This is the same as Terminal 3 at Dubai International Airport, in the United Arab Emirates which is also under construction. It will also surpass the Emirates Park Towers in Dubai as the world's tallest hotel.

The entire project is estimated to be completed in the autumn of 2011.

MAKKAH: Over 600 construction workers employed by a major construction company on a project close to the Grand Mosque in Makkah continued their strike for a second successive day on Monday.

The men, working on the King Abdul Aziz Endowment Project and the Grand Mosque’s northern courtyard expansion project, have gone on strike after not being paid their salaries for two months. They are also demanding better work conditions.

Eyewitnesses said the workers began gathering close to the King Abdul Aziz Endowment Project at around 7 a.m. on Monday. They added that the number of workers was larger than those who gathered to strike on Sunday.

The workers also shouted slogans demanding unpaid salaries. Police officers arrived at the scene and contained the workers in an area to allow space for pedestrians and pilgrims to walk. The huge gathering and police presence also created some confusion among pilgrims and visitors to the Grand Mosque.

A number of workers said they were protesting after not receiving their salaries for two months, adding that they had also not been paid overtime. They also called for their salaries to be increased and better accommodation.

One of the men, who asked for his name not to be published, said the workers met their employers and told them of their demands. The employers promised to resolve the matter and said that each worker would be paid an additional SR200 until the problem is solved.

Maj. Abdul Mohsen Al-Mayman, spokesman for Makkah police, said police officers were at the location to contain the strike and separate the workers from members of the public and pilgrims.

He added that police listened to the workers’ demands and that the matter has been brought to the attention of the Labor Office.

Could someone "In the Know" explain where all the 16 million square feet is housed? I find it hard to believe that all that square footage is just in the building with the clock... It must take the other buildings into consideration as well.